The three day event brought together over 350 scholars and experts in the field of social innovation, representing more than 50 countries from all over the world. A series of sessions which took place over three days, moving from policy discussion and debate to FP7 networking and engagement, have also led to the development of the joint declaration called “Vienna Declaration – The most relevant topics in social innovation research”. In her speech at the British Academy in London on November 10, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science emphasised that “the Vienna Declaration is a major contribution to a future research agenda on social innovation”. In the frame of the conference, WBC-INCO.NET co-organised the session: “Social innovation for inclusion and integration” including the following speakers from Croatia, Serbia, the USA and Portugal: Paul Stubbs (Institute of Economics, Zagreb), Sanja PopoviÊ PantiÊ (Mihajlo Pupin Institute, Belgrade), Sanja CrnkoviË-PozaiÊ (consultant, Zagreb), Dennis P. Culhane (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia) and Ana Vale (consultant, Lisbon).

Consultation session in the field of SSH: Identification of research topics of regional priority for the WBC

The WBC-INCO.NET pre-conference event, which was attended by over 40 persons (eminent scientists and  high-level researchers, National Contact Points from the region and project partners as well as persons from Science Ministries and Agencies), was used to further discuss the research topics identified in the background reports which are of a regional priority for Western Balkan countries. Employment/Employability, Economic clusters, Demographic challenges, Social changes/inequalities and Transition are just some of the research topics recognised as important for the region during the session. Further consultations will follow.

Background Reports on SSH in the WBC

In the frame of the priority setting exercise of the WBC-INCO.NET project, seven background reports have been prepared on national research systems in the WBC in the field of social sciences and humanities, on social innovation and on priorities of SSH research. The reports were distributed during the conference “Challenge Social Innovation” at the WBC-INCO.NET stand and directly handed over to the European Commission together with a list of priorities for the region.